


The Ruin of Time

by Lacedra



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Darth Vader Redemption, Eventual father daughter relationship, Eventually he’s got a way to go, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, More tags will be added as I figure out what I’m doing lol, Palpatine is the worst, So it’s complicated, Time Travel, Vader needs a reality check and a therapist, Which used to be a brother sister relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29772099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacedra/pseuds/Lacedra
Summary: It’s a few months into the Clone Wars and Ahsoka’s apprenticeship to Anakin Skywalker. They've just won the second battle of Geonosis. They’re getting a rare leave to the Jedi Temple. Everything is fine. But when Ahsoka goes to sleep that night she wakes up to a living nightmare, thrust into a terrible future with a strange Sith Lord called Darth Vader who seems to want her alive for reasons unknown.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 40
Kudos: 78





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first Star Wars fanfic. The idea just grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go until I wrote it. For reference this takes place after the episode Brain Invaders and I’m going with the assumption Ahsoka is still 14. As for when this takes place in terms of the Empire, I can’t decide if I want it to be around the time of Star Wars Rebels or when Luke and Leia are with the Rebellion. Any opinions on the matter would be appreciated. It doesn’t matter yet though. I don't know how involved I want to make this. I have a lot of different ideas and directions this could go but who knows if I'll keep the motivation to follow though with any of them lol.
> 
> The perfectionist in me made this hard to post but I don't know if I'll ever finish it if I don't have some outside support. Hopefully this will help hold me accountable to keep working on it. Feel free to leave feedback, I might end up editing over this again in the future depending on where it goes.

Ahsoka noticed the feel of the Force before she did her surroundings. The wrongness of it, the emptiness - she almost recoiled as it struck her. The light of all the Jedi, their presences, it was all gone. As though it had never even there in the first place. There was only darkness left it its wake, far beyond anything she'd felt during the Clone Wars.

She shot up. “What...” the word was half a whisper, half a gasp.

What was going on? She reached for Anakin but found nothing at the end of their bond. Only more darkness. Her end was intact but it was like his was gone. Not snapped but ending abruptly.

Her stomach rolled and she wanted to throw up. What did that mean? The only way a Force bond like theirs could be broken was if one chose to end it or if something happened to the other – typically death. Anakin would never do that without warning, he didn't have a reason to end their bond unless he was giving her up as a Padawan. With how terrible he was at keeping secrets – seeing him around Senator Amidala was enough to convince her of that fact - she would have known ahead of time. There would be no way he could hide such thoughts from her, it would have shown through in how he behaved around her. So that left the latter option, something must have happened to Anakin. Could Anakin be dead?

She wrapped her arms around herself. No, that couldn’t be, Ahsoka had seen him last night. And he had been fine then, he was in the safest place he could be on Coruscant short of being the Chancellor himself. She would have felt the bond snap if Anakin died and the more she prodded it, the more she was sure it was intact still. Sort of. She just couldn’t trace it back to him. So there had to be another explanation. Something connected to why she wasn't in the Jedi Temple anymore.

Ahsoka stood up, her legs trembling beneath her. It looked like an alleyway, narrow and gloom. So she was in some kind of city. A poor one she thought, it was dirty, waste littering the ground around her. It didn’t smell any better than it looked.

It could be the lower levels of Coruscant. Yet that didn’t feel right. The Force was sluggish, the feeling of wrongness still permeating it - but that rung true almost instantly. It was dark but she thought she could see sky, with faint stars in the distance, rather than layers of buildings and durasteel. She wasn't on Coruscant anymore.

But how was that possible? She never heard of the Force teleporting anyone, much less when they were asleep. Even if she was still in the Core that was an incredible distance to cover unintentionally. She had done nothing to cause this.

She swallowed. Ahsoka didn’t know who to go to for answers. She didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t feel anyone in the Force to call out to for help. But she knew she’d need to find the Jedi somehow if she were to get any answers. And to do that she’d need to figure out where she was.

How she got here could wait until she found someone familiar.

Ahsoka crept forward and peered out of the alleyway. It was just as dark out there, streetlights barely visible from how dull they shun. She didn’t recognize anything. Some people were walking on the street, mostly aliens in cloaks, hoods covering their faces.

A sick feeling only grew stronger in her stomach. Where was she? In some sort of den for criminals? Everyone felt so elusive in the Force, as though they wanted to avoid attention. She didn’t trust asking any of them for help. But she didn’t have much of a choice.

Ahsoka went up to the nearest person, a Rodian male. He was short, not much taller than her, and lean. She spotted at least two blasters hanged by his side but she wasn’t worried. With the Force on her side she could take him if she needed to.

She waved a hand in front of him but he didn’t react. He didn’t even look at her. His gaze remained fixed ahead of him.

Ahsoka cleared her throat. “Uh, where am I? What planet is this?”

The Rodian turned and stared at her like she is particularly stupid. She glowered, annoyance and embarrassment warming her checks. But she held back a snippy remark and waited for him to say something.

“Cyrkon,” he said at last.

Her eyes widened. She didn’t know the name. But she felt sure it was in the Outer Rim. How did the Force take her so far away from Coruscant? And why? Was she supposed to do something here?

The Rodian’s eyes had left her face and she almost wanted to slap him. But then she realized he was looking at her belt. Right at her lightsaber.

“What are you looking at?” Ahsoka snapped, her hand hovering in front of it.

His eyes flickered up to her face, his face growing serious. “I wouldn’t carry that thing out in the open.”

She blinked. “My lightsaber?”

“Doesn’t matter how proud you are of stealing it. It isn’t worth the trouble. You don’t want the Empire to see you with that.”

She almost said she had built it herself, indignation burning up her throat. How dare he assume she was some petty thief. But then the rest of his words caught up with her.

“The Empire?” Ahsoka repeated and the feeling of wrongness increased. She couldn’t even tell if it was coming from the Force or her own instincts. “What Empire?”

He stared at her again, as though she said something wrong. “No one hasn’t heard of the Empire.”

So why hadn’t she? Ahsoka couldn’t remember anyone mentioning it to her. If it were so well known how could the Jedi be unaware of it?

“I only know of the Republic,” Ahsoka said.

He laughed. “The Republic has been gone for years,” he said, his tone dismissive. As if it a simple fact everyone knew. She sensed no dishonesty from him, no hint of it being a lie.

Her chest tightened and Ahsoka felt like she couldn’t breath. “That’s impossible. How can it be gone?”

“It became the Empire. After the Clone Wars ended.”

His words didn’t make sense. How could the Clone Wars have ended without her knowing? Ahsoka’s face felt hot. Maybe this was a Force vision... just an intensely real feeling one. But that didn’t feel right. She never heard of a vision feeling like this. And why have her on a random planet being told information by a stranger? None of it made sense.

Her voice came out hoarse. “How long have the Clone Wars been over?”

His face was beginning to grow suspicious but she ignored it. She needed to know more.

“Years now. It was before your time.”

Years? Ahsoka felt her breath catch again. It was starting to seem like she was in the future. Nothing else could explain what the Rodian was telling her. Yet time travel was impossible. She had never been taught the Force could do that. Ahsoka hadn’t done anything to warrant this. It wasn’t like she had touched any strange artifacts or done anything out of the ordinary before she went to sleep.

He squinted. “You look familiar.”

“Well, I am a J-” Ahsoka began and stopped. The Force pulsed in warning, so urgent and sudden that it almost took her breath away.

She whirled around, hand flying to her lightsaber. She nearly unclipped it to ignite it but something made her stop.

Her eyes scanned across her surroundings. Nothing was behind her. No signs of danger. Her breath came out heavy, she could still feel adrenaline pulsing though her.

She looked back at the Rodian. His stare was even heavier now, something probing behind it.

“Who are you?”

Ahsoka opened her mouth but no words are out. Somehow she knew it would be a mistake to tell him anything more.

She swallowed. “I have to go.”

Ahsoka turned and walked away from him, ignoring his calls for her to stop. She took long strides much like Anakin did when he was in a hurry. Her chest squeezed at the thought of him. If she was somehow in the future... where was her master?

  


* * *

  


Ahsoka spent the next few hours trying to piece together what happened to her. She didn’t talk to anyone else. She could feel the Force whispering to her to not.

She kept reaching out to Anakin to no avail. It only increased her worries. Their bond might still be new and forming so early in her apprenticeship, but it never felt like this. Even when Anakin closed off his side of the bond, she could still feel him.

Her face felt hot and her eyes stung as she fought to keep her lips from quivering. She furiously wiped away the tears dripping down her checks. What was she going to do? She had never been cut off from the Jedi like this before. Even on dangerous missions, she always had Anakin by her side. She thought of their most recent mission on Geneosis, even then she had Barriss with her for most of it.

Now she had no one. She was trapped in some strange future she knew nothing about, with no way to get home.

Ahsoka needed to know more about the Empire. But even the thought of it made the Force almost darken, though it was hard to tell with how dark the Force already was. So the Empire couldn’t be anything good. Not with how dark and cold everything felt. She couldn’t feel any of the Jedi.

She wondered if that was on her part from her spontaneous time travel. Maybe there were side effects and it affected her connection to the Force. Or maybe the Jedi were just shielding themselves for some reason.

If only she could find someone familiar to explain it to her....

Ahsoka stiffened, tenseness filling her whole body. She felt something dark, endlessly so, grow close. Her stomach dropped. It was on the planet. Close to her, too close. How did it get here so fast?

It reached out to her, so much hatred and anger within a simple touch. She slammed up her shields, jolting upwards. A Sith. A Sith just probed her mind. Whoever they were, they knew she was here.

She trembled. They were strong in the Force too. She had to get out of here.

She jumped to her feet and darted out of the alleyway, practically sprinting through the worn streets and past seedy buildings. People stared at her as she rushed around them but she ignored them. She needed find some way off the planet. There had to be a spaceport of some kind here.

Ahsoka wanted to reach out to the Force and let it guide her, hopefully to a spaceship. But she didn’t dare. The Sith was still pressing against all her senses. If she opened her mind again who knew what they could do?

She cut through an alleyway and came to a halt within steps. A dead end. Adrenaline rushed through her, her body trembling with energy and the urge to act. Ahsoka didn’t see the Sith Lord chasing her and yet it felt like it. She felt like she was being hunted.

Her skin prickled and she felt cold. So very cold. An eerie sound of breathing filled the air, inhaling and exhaling. Ahsoka whirled around, looking for the source. It sounded like it was coming from all around her.

Then she saw where it must be coming from. A monster stood at the start of the alley, blocking her in. Even with the distance between them he towered over her. He was dressed in unrelenting black, his face covered by a mask she was sure haunted many people’s nightmares. But his Force presence was so much darker. She felt like she was drowning in all the hate and angry swirling around him.

He didn’t see her yet, the darkness of the alley covered her. She took a slow step back, trying to blend further in. She could feel him searching for her through the Force. She closed her eyes.

He was a Sith, there was no doubt. There never had been for her, but any room for uncertainty had been destroyed now. And she didn’t recognize him. She hadn’t heard the Separatists had another Sith join them. The Rodian’s words about the Clone Wars being over for years echoed through her mind. Could she be looking at the allusive Darth Sidious?

Heavy steps thudded against the ground and her eyes shot open. He was striding closer to her. He stopped mere feet away, close enough to kill with a lightsaber in a moment if he chose.

His mask didn’t tilt down but it felt like he was looking at her, right into her face. She didn’t know how but for a moment she thought she caught his gaze through the mask. Something spiked in the air. It wasn’t simply anger, shock and something else echoed through the Force. The other emotion disappeared behind his shields before she could identify it.

Her breath caught but he didn’t move, didn’t make any motion to strike her down. He was distracted. Maybe she could catch him off guard. Her hand went for her lightsaber.

But before she had it, it went flying off her belt and into the Sith’s hand. Ahsoka gaped at him as he turned it over in his hand, as though studying it. The tension deepened even further.

His mask lifted up. “Who are you?” a deep voice boomed.

“I was going to ask you that, Sith,” she said. But her voice was not as bold as she had hoped.

“Who are you?” he repeated, the question louder now, more urgent.

She felt it reverberating in the Force, the words almost echoing in her head. She took an unsteady step back. “Get away from me. That’s none of your business.”

She was in no position to say that, she knew it was a mistake as soon as she said it. She could almost hear Anakin in her head, calling her snippy. But Ahsoka couldn’t help it. The intensity of his emotions and question were too much.

Ahsoka jumped as he ignited her lightsaber, turning it over in his hand.

He wasn’t looking at her anymore, his eyes were only on the lightsaber. “Where did you get this?”

Ahsoka swallowed. “I built it.”

He must already know she was a Jedi, lying to him wouldn’t be able to fool a Sith.

He turned it off but he still held her lightsaber. “Ahsoka Tano,” he said. His voice was almost quiet, as though speaking aloud to himself.

Her eyes almost popped out of her face. Her body felt as though she had been dunked in ice cold water. How could he know that?

“How-” she started, her voice faint.

He moved toward her, far faster than she would have thought possible with his hulking frame. She took a step back and felt the wall of a building press against her, the cool metal stinging against her bare lower back. There was nowhere to go.

He reached out and she thought for sure he was going to kill her. But his lightsaber never ignited. His hand didn’t come in for a blow. Instead it rested in her shoulder.

“You’re real,” he said, almost as though in wonder.

She stared up at him, too baffled to pull back. “Of course I am.”

His hand dug into her shoulder, it was hard and unyielding like Anakin’s prosthetic arm. It probably wasn’t a flesh hand. “You are coming with me.”

Horror cut through the confusion. “No, I’m not,“ she shook her head wildly, sending her lekku swinging against her cheeks. “I need to- I need to get-“ her words cut out, she didn’t know what she needed to do. All she wanted to do was go home but she didn’t know how. Ahsoka didn’t even know where to begin.

“You don’t belong here,” he said. “The Force brought you here for a reason. And I am going to discover what that it is.”

Ahsoka flailed around and hit him and pushed against him but it was like attempting to move a mountain. He didn’t budge against even her strongest hit. She couldn’t break his grip.

His other hand came around and griped her shoulder. She jerked as she felt him pushing against her shields. He was so strong in the Force, the darkness was overwhelming. Within moments he found a crack in her shields and was in her mind.

_Sleep._

She tried to fight him, to push him out. But he wouldn’t go away. It was hard to keep her eyes open now.

_Sleep._

He was doing a Force suggestion. Whatever reason he had to want her unconscious couldn’t be good. She had to fight it. It was what Anakin would want her to do if he were here.

_Sleep!_

Somehow it felt more forceful this time, any trace of gentleness erased. Her eyelids grew even heavier. Ahsoka fought to keep them open but the rest of her body was rebelling too. Her legs wobbled and she pitched forward. Her face came against a firm wall of leather and pointy things digging into her cheek. The Sith?

Everything felt so unreal. It was hard to think, much less fight against it now. Arms hooked under her knees and the last thing she felt conscious of was being lifted up.

Ahsoka slept.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the response to the first chapter! I really appreciated all your comments and kudos. It truly inspired me to keep working on this, there's no way I would have gotten so far on my own. Also I've decided to have some flashbacks to the past here and there (just to make all that Ahsoka lost from this spontaneous time travel hurt more). I didn't plan on it but I ended up writing it as I was working on this idea and it just sort of fit in. I hope this is up to all of your expectations! Feel free to let me know if you catch any mistakes.

_Ahsoka entered Anakin and Obi-Wan's quarters, the unlocked door letting her in with ease. Some of her lingering tension evaporated at the familiar sight and better yet, the way her master's presence intermingled with Master Obi-Wan's clung to the rooms in such a cozy way. Her own room was too quiet, leaving too much space for what happened to her and Barriss to bounce around her head on repeat._

_The door slid shut behind her. Normally Padawans lived in quarters with their Master but with the war Ahsoka had yet to move in with Anakin and Anakin had yet to move out of Obi-Wan's rooms. With how little they got to stay at the Jedi Temple anymore it didn't make sense to bother._

_It always felt weird returning to the Jedi Temple after weeks out on the front lines. After the constant action of battlefield, the peace and tranquility of the temple felt foreign – even downright uncomfortable. She was left feeling itchy, remnants of adrenalin still there as she braced for a battle that wouldn't start. It almost made her miss the front lines. At least she knew what to expect there._

_No one else seemed to have that problem. It was like the knights and masters mastered the art of switching between being a solider on the backfield and going back to the picture of calm and at peace – the way a Jedi should be. Jedi were supposed to be Peacekeepers but she wasn't even sure what that would entail anymore once the war ended. The temple only reminded her of her failings in that regard. It was like she never really left the battlefield._

_She thought of all Jedi, Anakin would understand. He seemed to thrive on the action. She had a hard time imaging him during peaceful times. What would he do with himself? Her conversation with Barriss came back to her, before everything escalated out of anything she imagined, and a tight knot of discomfort followed. For all he tried to make her feel better, that Barriss would agree she made the right choice in following her instincts, she wasn't so sure._

_Though right now Anakin seemed content enough, lounging across Obi-Wan's unfairly comfortable couch as he tinkered with some parts that she thought might be for R2. That or his prosthetic arm – the one that he had neglected to mention existed for weeks into her apprenticeship until one day she walked in to see him messing with it one armed. He still laughed about the look on her face but she stood by the fact that a Padawan couldn't be expected to assume their master was missing a limb. That was something that should be mentioned earlier on, in the first week tops._

_Some parts were spread across the coffee table he was hunched over and the rest sat on the cushions around him. Inconsiderate really, it didn't leave her much space to sit down._

_She came up behind him and let her feet leave the ground as she leaned across the back of the couch. “Does Master Obi-wan know you're getting grease all over his cushions?”_

_Anakin turned and grinned at her. She was somewhat disappointed he didn't flinch at her voice. He must have noticed she was coming, even though she could have sworn he was too invested in his task to notice her entrance. “I won't tell if you don't.”_

_Ahsoka guffawed. “He has eyes, Skyguy. He'll notice.”_

_“He won't mind,” Anakin said. “It's not the first time I've gotten something on this couch.”_

_“Really?” Ahsoka folded her arms as she leaned off the couch and back on her feet. “You be messy? I can't imagine it.”_

_Anakin shrugged. “Turns out spilled tea is tough to get out of whatever fabric this is. In the end we had to turn the cushions over.”_

_“Looks like you might have to do it again. Or better yet, get a new couch.”_

_She was only kidding. As beat up as it appeared, no doubt more due to Anakin than it's age if Obi-Wan's stories of his Padawan days were any indication, it was the nicest couch she'd ever sat on._

_“No, it's been here since Master Qui-Gon was here. Obi-Wan wouldn't get rid of it,” Anakin said with more firmness than was necessary. “I wouldn't let him. It's a perfectly good couch, there's still life left in it.”_

_Some might call that attachment, a distant part of her thought. But Anakin, as unconventional a knight he could be, was still as Jedi Knight. He probably wasn't being that serious._

_Ahsoka grew quiet. She had never gotten the chance to met Master Qui-Gon Jinn despite her now being a part of his lineage, him being dead long before the Clone Wars even started. He was mentioned very sparingly by Anakin and Master Obi-Wan, which only made the loss more poignant. She could only imagine how much worse it was for her master and especially her grandmaster, who got the chance to know him. The Jedi Code taught them to manage their feelings of loss and sadness but it didn't take them away. Not entirely._

_Anakin seemed to notice the mood shift. “Imagine what Obi-Wan would do in here without me? That's worth a stained couch.”_

_She made an exaggerated thoughtful face. “Drink tea without spilling it and meditate in peace?”_

_Anakin attempted to look stern but it did little to hide the smile he was holding back. “Come here, my young Padawan, and make yourself useful.”_

_With a wave of his hand the loose parts rose up off the cushion closest to him, rearranging them half on the coffee table and the rest piled high on the remaining cushion. If Master Obi-Wan were here, he would be sure to scold Anakin for a frivolous use of the Force but in that smiling sort of way that lacked any true heat._

_Ahsoka smiled back, flopping down next to him. “What are we working on?”_

_Maybe it wasn't so bad being back at the temple. A break from the action might be just what she needed. And the perfect way to get her mind off of everything bothering her - what had happened on course to the medical station and the role of the Jedi._

_For now she could just relax with her Master and enjoy their time off. ___

__

____

  


* * *

  


Ahsoka jerked awake, her heart pounding. That dream was so vivid. She leaned up from the stiff bench she was draped across and stretched. Wait, bench?

Her eyes shot open. She wasn't in the dark ally or back on Coruscant. She had been moved. Everything came flooding back to her, the Sith and where she last remembered having consciousness. She should be dead right now but all accounts. Sith had no mercy. Yet here she was, still alive and… somewhere.

She took in the room she was in, a sinking feeling overcoming her. It looked like she was on a spaceship. Ahsoka heard the hum of ship’s engines rumbling beneath the floor. They were moving, with the familiar sounds of being in hyperspace echoing through the ship in the subtle ways she had learned. Her stomach sank. So much for being able to escape, as small as the possibility had been, it was now impossible.

Though the fact she didn't see or hear the Sith was as promising as it was odd. Why would he leave her alone like this? Had he seriously left her unguarded and not cuffed in any manner? She wasn't even behind the bars or ray shielding of a cell. There was nothing to prevent her from wandering around the ship.

Of course there was little she could do while they were flying and she had no hope of overpowering him. Perhaps that's why he felt confident enough to leave her as he did. Still, it felt strange not to be treated more like prisoner after being captured by the most terrifying Sith she had met. Technically the only she had met. Ventress didn't count and she had never formally encountered Dooku. And General Grievous wasn't even Force sensitive despite his skills with a lightsaber,

Ahsoka felt around her waist. Her lightsaber was no longer clipped on its usual spot on her belt. She scanned around but it was nowhere to be found. It must be with the Sith. Her chest tightened. She expected as much, as strong as the Sith may be he'd be a fool to let her keep her weapon. Still, it made her feel all the more vulnerable against him. Almost naked, she couldn't recall a time without her lightsaber when she truly needed it.

She would need to make do on the Force and her wits alone. Since the Sith hadn't killed her right away, it had to be for a reason. She scrunched her nose, he had mentioned something about finding out how she got here. But he'd realize soon enough that she didn't know anymore than he did. Ahsoka knew nothing valuable about what lead her to be here. Her life would be forfeit as soon as that happened. If he sensed she was awake now that could be within moments.

Panic constricted her chest and she wished for Anakin to be here more than ever. He would know what to do. Well, he probably wouldn't have a plan beyond get away from the Sith but he'd act like he knew exactly how to walk away from this situation alive, filled with that addicting confidence of his that made it feel like he could do anything, even change the outcome a battle to his very will. 

But he wasn't here and she'd just have to make due on her own. At least until she figured out what was truly going on. There had to be some way to end this nightmare and get back to Anakin and everyone else.

She snuck through the ship, keeping close to the walls with light steps - like when she was on a mission where being quiet was imperative. There were no signs of any lifeforms, not even a droid. It gave the ship an eerie and barren feeling. But Ahsoka knew she couldn't be alone on it. Someone had to be piloting them.

Finally she saw what must be the entrance to the cockpit. She paused in front of it, adrenalin making her limbs shakier than she would prefer. She could hear the constant in and out of his breathing. She wished she could stretch out in the Force to determine if her and the Sith were alone on the ship. But she dared not catch his attention. She had already gotten off lucky in their first encounter. Ahsoka doubted the second would end with her still living.

She swallowed. The least she could do was find out all she could before that point. If the Force had brought her to this time only to die, she wanted to go out with some idea of what this future brought. To know what had happened to all the other Jedi. The presence of this Sith implied nothing good.

Ahsoka crept into the cockpit. She craned her neck, trying to catch sight of the windshield to have some idea where they were going. Only the stars shooting by greeted her, as she should have expected in hindsight. She tried to look over the controls for any coordinates but too much of them were blocked by the pilot’s chair and hulking figure in it to be of much use. 

“I know you're there, young one,” the Sith's deep voice rumbled.

She stilled, her heart leaping into her throat. A feeling of impending doom pressed against her. She knew it was only a matter of time before he noticed her, but it still felt so sudden. Ahsoka didn't want to die.

But she straightened up. She was a Jedi and she wouldn't let fear overcome her.

“Where are you taking me?” Ahsoka asked, bracing herself for his response.

“You will see in time.”

Ahsoka frowned. That was far from helpful. At least the Sith didn't seem angry to see her wandering around, at least not anymore than he was normally. His anger and hate was a constant, swirling around in the Force and pounding against her mental shields. It was headache inducing. There was no doubt he was very strong in the Force.

“Do not attempt to escape,” he continued and she jolted at the words. “You will not like the results if you do.”

“I don't think I'll like the results I go with you any more. Wherever you plan to take me, I'm as good as dead. I'm not stupid.”

“That depends on your level of cooperation.”

Ahsoka bit her lip. “Are the Clone Wars really over?”

His helmeted head tilted toward her. “Yes.”

The breath was almost knocked out of her. So the Rodian had been telling the truth. As much as the obvious was there staring her in the face, she hadn't wanted to believe it. To believe that Anakin, Master Obi-Wan, Master Plo, Master Yoda, Padme, Rex, Aayla, Luminara, Barriss and even all her men and the Jedi as she knew them could be gone. Or at the very least she missed so much time with them, possibly even years if the Rodian's comment that the Clone Wars were before her time was any indication. All of the few constants she had left in the wake of the Clone Wars were gone. Ahsoka had never felt so utterly alone.

“What do you want from me?” Ahsoka asked, even though she already had a good idea.

Best to play dumb for as long as she could. The longer she could drag out his line of questioning about her time travel - a concept that had yet to be less strange and unbelievable the longer she was here - the more chance she had to potentially escape. It was a long shot but Ahsoka was used to that after being around Anakin. No matter what the Sith said, she found it hard to believe staying with him was better than trying to get away. At least then she had a chance of surviving this.

“You have noticed you’re no longer in your own time. The Clone Wars are more than merely over. They have been for some time. You should be much older than you are.”

“How much older?”

He didn't bother humoring her in her efforts to stall him. “How did this come about?”

She tugged the end of her skirt, her eyes sinking to the floor. “I'm not sure what you mean.”

“You do,” his voice was forceful. “Surely you've noticed how your pathetic light has been snuffed out? The Empire has seen to that, as have I personally.”

Her face grew hot and cold all at once. There was an ominous truth behind his words that she couldn't deny, the Force wouldn't let her. She would only be lying to herself to pretend he was. She thought of the lack of other Jedi in the Force and the almost unbearable silence in between the darkness. She didn’t feel ready for any confirmation of what she already suspected. But that wouldn't matter to a Sith.

“You will find no help from other Jedi,” the Sith continued. “They are all gone. There is no rescue coming, no one even knows to look for you. Keeping silent with accomplish nothing. So, I ask you again, how did you get here?”

“You want to know how I got here?” Ahsoka said in a trembling voice that betrayed how close she was to tears more than she would have preferred. Each of his words had battered against her heart and mind, confirming each of her worst fears. Did it really matter anymore? Did anything matter? There was nothing for her to bother escaping to. There was no way home to her own time in sight and there was nothing of home remaining here. Anakin and even the Republic itself that she spent all those months fighting for seemed to be gone. Gone and turned into whatever this Empire was. “That's why you kept me alive. But I don't know. I went to sleep in the Jedi Temple and I woke up where you found me. That's it.”

“No. There is more to it than that.”

Her shoulders slumped. He didn't believe her. Did she only have torture to look forward to now as he tried to get answers out of her that she couldn't give him even if she wanted to?

“I'm telling you the truth. I don't know anything.”

“I never said you knew it. But the fact remains that the Force brought you here for a reason. The Force will reveal that reason to me in time.”

She almost wished she had his confidence. If she could figure how why the Force sent her here maybe she could get back home. There was nothing left for her here. But that would only lead to her being expendable. Ahsoka doubted he would just let her go home, even if there was a way.

Ahsoka furrowed her brows. “How is that going to work?”

“The Dark Side is more powerful than you can know,” he said and she wanted to roll her eyes. That was just basic Sith propaganda.

“And what after you learn whatever it is you want to know? What happens to me?”

“That will be decided in time,” the Sith said with a finality.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. “I didn't realize Sith were such awful liars. Or are you not even honorable enough to tell me the truth? There's no way you have any intention of letting a Jedi live after you get what you want from me.”

His voice raised, a dizzying swell of anger ringing through the Force in warning. “You overstep.”

Ahsoka swallowed, fear threatening to rise up to her throat and cut off her words. “I know. But that doesn't change that I don't believe you.”

His voice was still edged with danger. “What do you want me to say? That I intend to kill you?”

A faint part of her wondered what she was doing still talking. Even Anakin, as mouthy as he could be on his own, would be telling her to shut up before she made things worse. “That'd be closer to the truth.”

“You have no concept of the truth, wrapped up in the lies of the Jedi as you are, Ahsoka,” the Sith snapped. “They were corrupt and weak-” 

Hearing her name in his deep voice yet again sent a jolt through her. Judging from the way he cut himself off, he realized it slipped out too. A tense silence fell over them, brimming with unspoken words and secrets. For all this Sith wanted to learn something from her, he knew more than he should about her.

Ahsoka took several tentative steps closer to him. He was enormous even sitting down. She was only almost eye level with him now.

“How do you know my name?” Ahsoka asked, softly.

She hadn't forgotten what he had said back in that alley. They were probably lightyears away from there now, but it didn't matter. There was no mistaking it was her full name that came out. Somehow he knew her, even though that shouldn't be possible. She knew they never met, at least not in her own time. She could never have forgotten meeting someone like him.

He paused. “I make it a point to know the names of the Jedi.”

Yet she was presumably far younger than she was supposed to be and only one of thousands of Jedi. Him remembering her name so fast was very improbable unless there was something more to it. Further, something in his words rung false through the Force. But Ahsoka wasn't about to call him on it. For all Anakin loved to called her snippy, she knew when to keep her mouth shut. Most of the time.

But he must sense how poorly his excuse held up. “Enough of your questions,” he snapped. “You are coming with me regardless. You have no choice in the matter.”

“Wait… who are you?” Ahsoka fidgeted, playing with the end of her skirt. “You never said.”

He paused, long enough to make her think he wasn't going to bother answering. But then he spoke, low and pulsing with meaning. “Darth Vader.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This line filled me with delicious irony to write: “Panic constricted her chest and she wished for Anakin to be here more than ever.” I've got some bad news about that, Ahsoka… I'm so bad lol.


End file.
